Author: Antonia Norris

Categories
Reporting Results

Dementia-friendly communities​

There are 4 million Australians over age 65 – that’s about 15% of the Australian population living with Dementia…and its a growing cohort expected to be 22% of the population by 2057.

70% of these people are living in their own homes within the community, including within retirement communities. 

There is no question that as Village professionals we will be in a position to support those living within our communities with Dementia.

Dementia Australia has a range of tools and resources to assist with supporting those living with Dementia, including a couple of great new social movement initiatives called Dementia Friends, Dementia Friendly Communities and Dementia Friendly Organisations. 

I encourage all Village Professionals to become Dementia Friends. It only takes about 25 minutes online. 

Or perhaps your community could become a Dementia Friendly Organisation and then perhaps you could even consider becoming a Dementia Advocate and encourage the local business community around you to become a Dementia Friendly Community.

In the meantime here are a few tips that will help people living in your community with Dementia:

  • Contrasting colours in rooms such as doors being a slightly different colour than walls, grab rails & toilet seats being different colours that the tiles and paint, word on signs being contrasting colours
  • Identification labels on drawers, cupboard doors and entrances and exits
  • Clear kitchen cupboard doors to be able to see what is behind the door
  • Non-patterned floors and highlighting colours on change of levels/stairs
  • Personalisation/recognition indicators in the front garden of the persons home
  • Promotion of Dementia Friend (25min) on-line training for residents and staff
  • Quiet space in community areas to get away from the noise
  • Invite Dementia Australia to visit your village

Download the DIY Dementia Friendly Toolkit at dementiafriendly.org.au

Register HERE or contact Dementia Australia below.

Categories
What the research tells us

RV Digital Marketing: Product vs Community

Most digital marketing in retirement is like my first cellphone. It was great but it wasn’t smart.

Nowadays, we have the opportunity to make our phones dumb or run a company from them as the advances over the last decade are tremendous. But it comes down to the necessities of the user.

With your digital marketing, are you maximising the present-day opportunity for your future residents?

Their journey to retirement includes a multi-touch approach that desires a genuine, authentic display of your community.

From digital to open days, are you presenting an aligned approach to marketing?

Consider the three V’s of branding, visual, verbal and value.

When these are unaligned, our marketing efforts get lost in the noise of confusion creating longer customer journeys amongst shorter mandatory buyback timeframes.

Our brand values are unaligned when we advertise our communities like products.

Consider what your organisation represents, the words you use and your positioning amongst competitors the next time you draft a piece of content or advertisement, and please don’t advertise discounts.

When we differentiate ourselves on price, we position ourselves as a commodity rather than the unique communities we are. 

Perhaps the last significant purchase our residents will make in their lives, I believe they are looking for a place to belong to, invest in and travel from.

Think about this as you create your next campaign.

Joshua Hanchett
Director 
My Heart Studio | Your Digital Partner​

Categories
Latest industry developments

VILLAGE SUMMIT 2020 at the Sheraton Grand Sydney, 20-21 Feb: People Passion Professionalism

Start thinking now about joining 400 of your Village Management colleagues for an inspiring two days in Sydney. 

The theme of this years VILLAGE SUMMIT is People Passion Professionalism, an intensive 2 day program designed to equip, inspire and connect Village Professionals.

Join some of the country’s most successful village operators and managers who will share their challenges, successes and learnings plus insights from other industries as we prepare to accommodate the new wave of consumers. 

With a focus on legislation, industry frameworks, leadership, soft skills, technology, care, sales, marketing and insight into the expectation of future and current residents, this program promises to support the decision makers of the sector both ‘in-field’ and head office professionals.

Hear from Matt Church (pictured), nominated in the Top 10 Leadership speakers in the world Matt will share the power of motivational leadership to inspire and influence village communities. Mark Bindon, Co Founder of the successful Oak Tree Group will share the Resident Engagement journey and how to build a brand based on trusted relationships.

Plus 18 other fabulous speakers.

Register now at thevillagesummit.com.au so as not to miss out on joining the 2020 premier national conference for Village Management.

Categories
Key things to help you everyday

Village Manager Handover checklist (Busy Busy silly season)

We are approaching the time of year as Annual meetings and Melbourne Cup moves slowly behind us we start to think about planning for Christmas decorations, celebrations and the holiday period.

Village professionals often find themselves running on empty at this time of year and take the opportunity to have a well-deserved break. Often in the lead up to the leave it is busy busy busy and a time where there are lots going on.

Whether you are having a relief manager stepping in for you or a team member manning the fort it is good practice to be starting to think about the tools, resources and information they may need to access whilst you are away (especially if you would like to avoid that call on Christmas day when the code to turn off the fire system can not be found).

Some of the items I like to go through with a relief manager include:

  • Site orientation/plan – utility shut off locations
  • Staff introductions, role, responsibilities, capabilities, rosters & norms
  • Introduction to Chair Resident Committee & Committee details
  • Village values/culture, decision making and communication policy explanation
  • Resident contact information
  • Service provider contact details & contract details
  • Emergency evacuation familiarisation & services contact details
  • Current budget guidelines, meeting minutes etc
  • Complaint management guidelines & policy
  • Current complaints in progress
  • Contractual explanation & likely anomalies
  • Resident file/documentation process
  • Explanation of delegation & accounting processes
  • Maintenance schedules
Categories
Things to watch

Village Vibe Contribution By Vicki Neilson, Village Manager, Elliot Gardens, Port Elliot

Three years ago, I  introduced a ‘Girls Night In’ candlelight dinner for the ladies living at Elliot Gardens, Port Elliot. It has been a great success and still continues today.

This event raises funds for women’s cancer, an average of $1,000 each year. However importantly the ladies have a terrific evening. The Elliot Gardens team provide their time to assist with the setup, food preparation and they also run ‘games’ before and in between courses.

And I do all the cooking and I am NOT a professional chef by any stretch of the imagination! Eight male residents wait on the tables and bar and then we do it all again next month for the ‘Boys Night In’ dinner, the ladies will wait on them!

Categories
Things to watch

Ageism – it happens to us all

Recently a friend of mine shared a book with me that provided food for thought on how we meet the needs and expectation of the future consumer as Retirement Community professionals.

That includes the language we use, the activities we encourage and the service model we provide. The biggest takeaway for me was further confirmation that our service models in villages must include consultation and respect for individualism.

Whilst much of our focus slants towards the positives we know Retirement Villages provide, we sometimes forget about the unintended consequences such as a lack of intergenerational contact and residents becoming focused on village life and not on their wider community. 

Ashton Applewhite’s book explains the roots of ageism—in history and in our own age denial—and how it divides and debases. Whether you’re older or hoping to get there, Ashton will change the way you see the rest of your life and help you break some old habits.

If you are like me and are time poor consider watching her TED Talk HERE.

Even better if you like what you are hearing, perhaps consider seeing her in person on her Australian tour.

Categories
Latest industry developments

Village Manager Regional Meets taking off for DCM Institute

Over the next six weeks, eight Regional Meets by Village Managers are taking place across the country. See the dates and locations opposite.

Any Village Manager or head office staff can attend for the cost of a gold coin.

Regional meets have been created by our DCM Institute to support Village Managers in the field.

Each meet is staged at a retirement village so local managers can network and exchange local knowledge and coordinate local promotion of retirement villages.

Our DCM Institute portal provides the Secretariat service to establish the meeting and promote it to local Village Managers.

You can register HERE for any of these regional meets or to set up your own.

Categories
What the research tells us

Consultation is more than just a Resident survey or a letter of information

I recently came across this great Community Communication and Listening tool developed by the District Council of Yankalilla, authored by Community engagement specialist Becky Hirst.

It is a great roadmap on all the things we could do.

I have often said running a Retirement Community is like running a District Council and in an age where consultation is a given, we too as Village operators are looking for more innovative ways to engage with our Village communities.

I am not suggesting we need to strive to do all of these things but I thought by providing you the list you could think about whether there are some strategies in this menu that you could add to your own menu as such.

No surprise, I particularly like the “Back of the Ute” chats, the informal and impromptu chats that help Village professionals keep their ear to the ground. 

The Working Group – involving residents in decision making, planning for the future, engaging their expertise and interest and Pop Ups – ensuring that not all your interaction with the community looks the same but adding diversity to the types of activities to encourage a range of residents to engage – could be moving the location, having a BBQ instead of morning tea, invite a guest speaker and just being present, mixing it up!!!

Over the summer holidays I am going to have a go at making a menu for myself – if you do make one yourself, I would love you to share it with us!

Categories
Key things to help you everyday

Village Culture – is it a thing?

Earlier this year Jo Marshall (pictured) from Culturise joined our Professional Development program participants to deliver a session on Village Culture. We grappled with the question – Can a Village Manager impact upon village culture? And why would they want to?

There is no question that each village has its own culture. The challenge is how we describe it, and maintain and sometimes improve it. 

Jo shared “Culture put simply is ‘how we do things around here’. At an organisational level our culture is demonstrated by our behaviours. In turn our behaviours are defined by our shared values. In groups we carried out a fun activity called ‘what makes a happy, healthy village”. 

Our attendees were divided into groups and brainstormed to come up with as many descriptors as possible.

The strongest themes were – care, fun, community and respect. Jo posed the question: What if you were to do an activity like this with your residents? Why not ask them what makes a happy and healthy village to them? The results will give you some great foundations for continuous improvement and an opportunity to get to know each other better.   

Human connection is one of the most important ingredients in happiness. Activities like this will help you create an even better village culture – without too much effort!

If you’d like to try this in your village please feel free to email Jo HERE to obtain more detailed templates and ideas. Culturise are experts in creating great cultures and supporting practical leadership.

Categories
Reporting Results

Policy and procedure — keep it simple

Many of you may be feeling overwhelmed at the thought of having to be ready to undertake what’s needed to achieve the Code of Conduct or ARVAS requirements.  

The best advice I can give is to have a plan, tackle the job one step at a time and document the way things need to be done.  

The POLICY should be the standards you set for your village.

The PROCEDURE will set out how you will achieve those standards.

Here are a few tips to help:

  • Identify the categories of operations within your village, eg. property, finance, human resources 
  • List for each category the policy, procedures, tasks and decisions associated with each category (Suggestion — check your last month’s calendar for tasks you do regularly as a starting point)
  • Use the Code of Conduct and Accreditation standards as tools to develop a Gap analysis (Suggestion — the ARVAS standards can be be downloaded as a great starting point without you being registered in ARVAS) 
  • Consult with your team
  • Consult with your residents’ committee
  • Prioritise what needs to be done  
  • Decide on a timeline and outline your weekly/monthly actions ​

And the best piece of advice — DON’T overthink it and DON’T be afraid to ask for help!

Jodie